Posts Tagged ‘blogging’
Redanyway: Share and Find Ideas For Your Blog
Many new bloggers complain about their content not getting enough exposure right off the bat. Some expect people to just show up everything a new blog post goes live. That can’t be further from the truth. It’s true that if your blog is popular, your visitors are going to find out about your top and new blog posts faster. But you should always give people a way to connect with your blog and share your content. Redanyway is a cool service that lets you take your blog to the next level and build a more solid community around your blog. Best of all, it gives your blog the exposure it needs to attract and retain more traffic.
Redanyway is like Twitter for blogs. You can not only share your own blog posts with the world and get people to follow your blog, you can also discover what other bloggers have to say. You can even develop ideas by figuring out what other bloggers are talking about and what seems to be popular in your niche. Read more »
There is More To Your Blog Than You Think!
It’s surprising how many people come to believe that you can make money from your blogs with just ads. Just put up a blog and put Adsense on them, and you are good to go. But that’s a Hollywood story. You are not going to make too much money with ads. There are people who claim they do, but you don’t have to look too far to figure out their strategy. All these folks have other avenues to earn money online. They are writing books, creating premium products, and doing all kinds of things to make money online. I am not suggesting that you should stop putting ads on your blog. That’s ultimately between you and your readers. If they don’t prefer to see ads on your blog, that’s probably something you should consider. But ads may pay your hosting bills, but they shouldn’t be your only source.
Blogging is a great way to gain exposure online. If you keep providing value to your readers, you are going to gain more of them, and that will allow you to build a larger, tighter community. But at some point, you’ve got to stop looking at your readers as potential clicks and more as folks who are interested in knowing more about what you have to say. If you spend your days researching online and sharing your thoughts with people, you might as well try to give them more in exchange for some cash. And in order to do that, you’ve got to work on your branding. You’ve got to brand yourself and work on complimentary products that provide more value to your readers and make you some revenue on the side. The more value you provide on your blog, and the more trust your build with your readers, the more powerful your brand becomes, and the better chance you have of making money from your premium works.
With that in mind, here are a few ways to make money from your blog, besides using Adsense:
- Premium Video: premium videos are a great way to make money online. Take SEOmoz. They have free videos available to their members, but they also sell premium SEO courses. And why not! They have one of the best brands in the SEO world.
- Membership: depending on your niche, you may be able to monetize your blog by creating a premium membership service for those who are interested in getting more information and are willing to pay for it. Make sure you provide real value before charging people for your content. Create tools, reports, and even software programs to create an effective membership site.
- Podcast: creating your own podcast may not generate instant revenue for your blog, but you can always sign up sponsors. And you can also create audio courses from your Podcasts. You can also provide your podcast archives available to your fans for a free.
- Book: you can also take a page out of Darren Rowse’s books and write a book. Not everyone can do that. And Darren has one of the best brands in the blogging world to back his book up.
- Product: any other type of product that provides your customers with some value can generate you revenue. Some folks have started teaching people how to start a video blog. Others are selling courses on the basics of promoting blogs on the Internet. The sky’s the limit here. Think outside the box!
There you have it. You don’t need Google Adsense to make a killing online. If you have had a blog for a few years, you probably have enough content to create a product of your own without having to start from scratch.
Your take: when are you planning to offer your first product online? Please share!
What To Do When You’re Stuck
Blogging sounds easy on the surface. Most folks who have never blogged in their lives look at super bloggers and come to believe that everyone can become a successful blogger. Here is the thing. There is nothing holding you back from becoming an amazing blogger. But it won’t be easy. Not by a long shot. Even the most passionate bloggers hit roadblocks on their way to success. When you are starting a blog, you’d like to think you are going to have something new to say every single day. But you won’t. Trust me!
The key to success in blogging is finding ways to provide values to your readers without rehashing your old content or imitating other top bloggers. Once you get started with blogging, you are so excited about your new adventure that you will have a lot of energy to write blogs and network with other bloggers. But after a few weeks, you are going to run out of obvious post ideas, and you may even become a bit jaded. What do you do then? This is where super bloggers stand out. Newbie bloggers easily get discouraged and give up on their dreams. You don’t have a post to write, so you just spend hours and hours thinking why you don’t have something to say. A true blogging superstar gets out and figures out how they can expand their horizon and write no-so-obvious posts.
Here is what I do when I am out of ideas. I start reading a totally new RSS feed. Something that I am not familiar with. Something that is not about blogging, technology, or anything close. You have probably seen my posts on MMA & blogging or Tennis & blogging. I came up with those posts when I was reading Yahoo! sports. Now, I admit that I wasn’t out of ideas for my posts, but I wanted to try something new on this blog. Superbloggers are constantly researching and learning new things to discuss with their readers. Everybody can write “obvious posts.” But the true challenge comes after you have written your first 100 posts. That’s when you are going to realize what it takes to be a top blogger. It takes more than passion to succeed in the blogging world. You’ve got to have the discipline, creativity, and a never-die attitude to make it.
Your take: how do you come up with new ideas when you are stuck?
How To Get Good At Blogging!
Like any career, when you start blogging, your goal should be to be the best you can be. The higher you set your goals, the better chance you will have of achieving success in your career. A lot of folks tend to look at the guys at the top and get discouraged by the amount of work and effort they have to put forth to get in a position to have a shot at stardom. Being a star doesn’t usually happen overnight, but if you ask the guys at the top, it’s really worth it.
But how do you get to the top? It’s really simple. But studying the masters in your field. Think about it. When a guy like Manning plans for his next football game, does he go in without any preparation? Blogging is a game too. If you want to become a star, you’ve got to diligently study the latest trends in your industry. Not only that, you’ve got to take a look at what the superstars are doing in your industry. By watching these guys carefully, you can figure out what they are doing right and what mistakes they are making that you should avoid. Here are the steps that I personally take to dissect what the top guys are doing:
- Blog Analysis: I analyze the top blogs in my market. I try to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. What makes them unique and what is the key deciding factor for readers who continue reading those blogs. What makes these readers loyal? If you can figure that out, there is no reason you can’t be successful in this business.
- Blog Structure: I try to put myself in position of the authors of these blogs to figure out how and why they structure their blogs the way they have.
- Writing Style: your writing style can be the difference between becoming a hit or failing miserably in the blogging business. If you are not sure what writing style works, study the top guys to figure out what they have in common.
- Angles: you should never try to be a copycat. You may achieve some modest success but copycat techniques only work for a short period of time. Why would people settle for a copycat when they can go to the real thing? I always try to compare top blogs to figure out from what angles they are approaching their topics, and how I can differentiate myself from them.
- Promotional tactics: there are so many tracking tools out there that it’s inexcusable to not spy on top bloggers. You should try to figure out what these guys are doing to drive traffic to their sites (SEO, PPC, SMO, other). You are not going to find everything, but you will find some nuggets that you can use for your own blog.
- Partnerships: by looking at who top bloggers are partnering with, you can get ideas about how to form your own partnerships. The same rule applies to sponsorships.
There are many other things you can look into to figure out what top bloggers are doing right. The deeper you get with this process the more valuable information you are going to find. You don’t have to read books to get good at blogging. You don’t even have to listen to the experts. Just watch what they do!
Are You A Pain Taker?
You better be if you want to make it in the blogging world. I was lucky to start blogging in 2004, when blogging was something fairly new. The blogging world has changed in the past few years. We have had a social media explosion, and Twitter has become its own monster in the past few months. Let’s not forget Facebook either. But for bloggers, all this means more pain. Blogging from bed may be a dream for most folks, but in reality, blogging for a living can be tougher than any 9-5 job.
As a blogger, not only should you be concerned about writing valuable content, but also promoting and growing your business. And keeping competitors off can be a challenge too. As we move deep into the Web 2.0 era, the playing field has become somewhat leveled. Folks who swiftly adopt the new technologies in conjunction with a dedication-to-innovation philosophy can suddenly challenge the traditional star bloggers. Managing change can be quite painful if you haven’t dealt with it before.
As you grow your blog, you should be careful about expansion pains as well. In truth, you can’t expect to dedicate yourself to your blog 100% and keep doing your non-core chores too. If your strength is writing content, that’s where you should focus. Whether you decide to outsource your processes or hire folks can dramatically change the nature of your business venture. Dealing with employees and outsourcing partners can be fun, but it comes with its very own challenges.
Can you Take the Pain?
That’s, in my opinion, the biggest game changer there is in this business. I have learned that very fact from the former UFC champion, Forrest Griffin. He is not the flashiest fighter. He is not the best striker, neither is he the best grappler. But as he keeps saying, he is willing to take more pain than anyone else. That has allowed him to grind down opponents that were more talented than him on the paper. The blogging business can be lonely and frustrating at times. The easy way would be to quit blogging and going back to a 9-5 job. But in reality, I’d rather take the pain and keep my freedom. And you wouldn’t know how your story ends if you quit today, now would you?
How To Dig Blogging Ideas with Keyword Elite
Coming up for new blogging ideas can be a challenge, even for blogging superstars. Blogging is very similar to falling in love with someone. At first, your relationship is going strong, but after a while you will have to try new things and make a bigger effort to keep the relationship strong.
Blogging is the same way. At first, you are so excited about writing about what you love. You keep coming up with different ideas and life can’t be better. But once you have written a hundred or so posts on your blog, you can almost feel the need to change things around and coming up with new ideas to spice things up.
One way to spice things up on your blog is by finding what folks are searching for in your niche. I am not just talking about keyword phrases, but question and issues in your niche. For instance, if folks are searching for the word “fraud.” You can use every man’s and woman’s best friend, Google, to find out about fraud issues in your niche.
Research has shown that you have a better chance of connecting with your visitors if you specifically address their questions and concerns. It’s nice to read a create blog post, but you don’t have to be that creative to answer the questions folks are asking.
Digging up Ideas with Keyword Elite
Keyword Elite is one of my favorite tools to dig up ideas for my blogs. K-Elite was originally created to help PPC marketers to create massive keyword lists and spy on their competitors. But it can do much more than that. K-Elite allows you to dig up thousands of keywords for every niche and find out exactly what’s hot and what’s not.
Keyword Elite allows you to use the following engines to dig up keyword phrases for your niche:
- Ask.com
- Yahoo!
- WordTracker
You can also tap into meta tags and misspelled keywords in you niche to find out more ideas. My favorite keyword phrases are questions. Many folks type their questions in Google to find answers for them. Having access to this kind of information allows you to design your blog posts in a way that specifically addresses their needs.
Keyword Elite is not the only tool that you can use to come up with blogging ideas, but it is a very powerful nevertheless. Knowing what to write about is only one part of the equation. You’ll actually have to sit down and write valuable content on it too 
Do You Have Blog Phobia?
A lot of people are afraid of the smallest things such as spiders. But being afraid of blogging? Nah! That can’t be real, right? It’s true. I have talked to many folks who really really want to start a blog. But they keep allowing their fears to get in the way. Love and fear are the two most powerful feelings for us humans, and sometimes one manages to dominate the other. But it is all up to you to decide which one.
People tell me that they “love” blogging and talking about their passion, but they are “afraid” of the unknown. How are they going to manage the technical stuff? How are they going to seek sponsorships? How will people receive their work? How will the blog affect their employment status? How are they going to keep their identity secret?
It would be hypocritical of me to claim that I didn’t have some of those feeling before I started my first blog. I was looking for a job at the time and didn’t want to destroy my chances of getting a job. I had loans and a family, and sometimes you have to make sacrifices. In my case, I realized that blogging could help me provide a better life for my family. I also was confident that I was passionate enough about this career to pursue it without any regrets.
Everyone has fears and dreams. But unless you put your fears aside, you are not going to have a chance to realize your dreams. My question for folks who are scared of starting their blog is this: “what is the worst that can happen?” There is nothing worse in life than getting old and realizing that you haven’t followed your dreams when you had the chance. Not everyone is lucky to achieve all their dreams but it is a shame if you don’t even go for them.
You can always live with being afraid of spiders or heights. But I can’t imagine myself being able to live with the thought of being too afraid to reach for my dreams. Can you?
The Workhorse’s Way To Blogging Stardom
Everybody wants to be a star. That’s just a fact of life. In order to be a star, you got to start from somewhere. If you ask the experts, they will tell you that you need to be unique and do something crazy to become a star. But in truth, there is always a workhorse to achieving success in this world. Being talented is only one part of the equation. Not everyone is willing to work as hard as others to be No.1, which means you can use that to your advantage.
So what is a workhorse? Let’s define the notion before going forward. A workhorse is someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to overcome lack of talent, brand recognition, and other challenges on the road to stardom. Being a workhorse is not the ideal way of achieving success to most, but for those who are willing to take the pain and tackle challenges head on, it offers a good chance of getting there.
Here is a workhorse’s mindset to achieve stardom in the blogging world:
- breaking stories: a lot of top bloggers would tell you “don’t even try to break new stories, we’ve got it!” It may be true, but that is not going to keep a workhorse from trying. If you are working 16 hours a day to break new stories, there is a good chance that you’ll get your chance.
- posting frequently: top bloggers may tell you that you don’t have to post too frequently to achieve success. But a workhorse looks at her competitors and tries to outdo them in every department, including post frequency.
- doing the junk work: optimizing titles of each post, optimizing meta tags, sending articles to directories, commenting on other blogs, the workhorse will do them all. No reason to leave anything to chance.
- networking relentlessly: what stars have that average folks don’t? Many things, but their network is probably the most valuable asset they own. The more people you know, the more doors are open to you.
- leaving nothing to chance: going back to previous points, a workhorse will do everything and anything necessary to succeed. That simple!
A wise successful man once told me that while he wasn’t too talented, he was successful because he was willing to take more pain than others. If it’s inconvenient, you can be sure that there will be people who will be turned off. But that should not turn off a workhorse. Who says hard work doesn’t pay off?
What Are The Consequences Of Blogging?
Consequences. For every action, there is a consequence. When it comes to starting a blog, getting over the fear of handling the techie stuff is only one part of the equation. Thinking about the consequences of what you are going to write about should be your top priority, depending on the type of blog that you will be writing. After all, you don’t want to go crazy on your blog without knowing what could happen, right?
What’s the worst that can happen?
You can get fired! No. That’s not the worst that can happen to you. If you get fired, you will probably find another job sooner or later. Getting fired will hit you financially, so that’s tough. But that’s not the worst thing that can happen.
You can get sued! It’s true. You can get sued for what you write on your blog. If you attack a company or an individual, you may want to make sure you can back it all up. Companies have sued bloggers before, and they will do so again. Not everyone’s going to get sued, but companies like to make example of a few bloggers to show you what can happen to you if you attack them or their products.
You can get spanked! You may have this before the whole lawsuit part. But I value relationships above anything else. Often, bloggers decide to write about people they know or have a relationship with. Before publishing your blog post, you want to make sure you do not hurt anyone’s feelings unless you mean to. Attacking other bloggers is absolutely normal in the blogosphere but you wouldn’t attack your business partner, do you? I guess it all comes down to how strong your relationships are… But don’t underestimate the ability of folks to get offended. Taking offense a talent
You can get imprisoned! That’s what happens when someone criticizes the government in my home country. I know. A blogger doesn’t belong in jail, but that’s the reality of it. Make sure you know your political environment before attacking your government. On the other hand, if you want to be an instant hero, you may want to use this technique to get arrested on purpose. I wouldn’t recommend it though.
You can get killed! Not everyone understands blogging. Remember the Muslim cartoon controversy? Now, think about what could happen to you if you severely attack a religion on your blog.You want to be the next Salman Rushdie? Go right ahead!
You can get humiliated! OK. Humiliation is not as bad as getting killed, but it hurts much more. Always do your research to make sure you don’t become the laughing stock of the Internet nation. It’s not an easy thing to accomplish, but some people try just too hard to make a fool out of themselves. Your online reputation determines your future on the Web. Make sure you know what you are getting yourself into before posting that poorly researched story.
What happened to being fearless?
I have preached about being fearless while blogging, but it’s always good to know the consequences before taking any action. When you know the consequences, you can make an executive decision to whether go forward with a post on your blog or ice the story. Better yet, there won’t be any major surprises whichever way you decide to go.
How Many Blogs Should You Own?
I don’t know about you, but when I got started with blogging, I was so passionate that I did it in bunches. I started maybe 6 blogs at once and went from there. Looking back now, that was probably a mistake. In reality, managing a blog is a huge responsibility. Each and every post needs to add some value. Often, you are required to do extra research to figure out ways to provide more value to your users. And then there is time restrictions that you will have to deal with.
If you look at the most successful bloggers, they’ve all started their careers with one or two blogs. Managing a single blog could take hours a day, if you dedicate yourself to it. Add to that the time that you will have to spend promoting and branding your blog, and you are not going to have much time to sleep at night. Now, when you add a second blog, you work more than doubles. If your new blog is a completely different niche, you are going to have to do research in that niche, and also network with the folks in that niche. Talk about running out of time…
In the end, you should start with one blog and see how you can handle that one. Starting with more than one blog can lead to you losing the focus you need to build successful blogs. When you have only one blog to deal with, you can dedicate yourself 100% to it. But if you are building up multiple blogs, you are not going to have time to build them up properly, which means you are going to be left with multiple but less successful blogs.
One of the lessons that I have learned the hard way is that no matter how much you overestimate your abilities in managing blogs, sooner rather than later you are going to realize that running multiple blogs is tough by your own. Now, if you spend the time needed to build one blog up properly, you can take time to build the second, and the third blog step by step. But doing everything at once can be a big challenge.
Your take: did you get started with only one blog? Do you find running multiple blogs by your own challenging?
